Clarets return to play-off zone

WHILE most of us tuck into turkey this Christmas, Stan Ternent, who happens to prefer beef, may also have some extra food for thought.

To play 4-4-2, or 3-5-2, that is the question.

A strong advocate of 4-4-2, I was as pleased as anyone when the Burnley chief switched back to that formation a few weeks into the new campaign.

But a genuine 3-5-2 line-up, with bona fide wingers Glen Little and Graham Branch in the wide roles, gave Burnley an exciting new dimension as they returned to the play-off zone at the expense of Cardiff City.

Picking horses for courses and adapting to the opposition will actually determine how Clarets chief Ternent opts to play.

And ditching the idea of a four-man defence and a midfield quartet that has served Burnley so well is unlikely to be on the cards for good.

But it was encouraging to see that Burnley did have another potent string to their bow to initially counter the threat of Cardiff and then take control of the game in scintillating fashion.

"It's important to be able to play in different ways," Ternent admitted afterwards.

Dean West was the unfortunate one to make way as Ternent, with his side trailing to a 16th-minute goal diverted into his own net by Mitchell Thomas, recognised that the Clarets were second best.

With Cardiff's own wing-backs posing a real threat and Jason Fowler floating around undetected, Burnley switched to three central defenders with Gordon Armstrong tucking in beside Steve Davis and Mitchell Thomas. The ace in the pack was substitute Graham Branch, who turned in an excellent performance on the left flank.

That allowed John Mullin and Glen Little to take up their preferred positions, centrally and on the right respectively.

And the pair were both superb as Burnley hit back before half-time through Gordon Armstrong and then clinched all three points in the 69th-minute when substitute Lenny Johnrose scored with his first touch following a sublime piece of skill from Little.

Ternent knows he has options both tactically and in terms of personnel. And while Wigan and Preston both won again to maintain the five-point gap at the top, it's hard to imagine any side at this level playing better than Burnley did for half-an-hour just after half-time.

They swept forward irresistibly as Cardiff, who showed themselves to be better than their lowly league position suggests early on, simply couldn't get out of their own half.

Little, Branch and Mullin cut through the Bluebirds' defence like a hot knife through butter, while Andy Cooke and Andy Payton constantly waited to pounce.

The only criticism that could be levelled at the Clarets was that they didn't have more to show for their endeavours as just the final touch was missing. Branch and Micky Mellon could both have been more selfish as their driving runs took them through to the last defender only to then pass when it looked as though they had the beating of their opponent.

But on the whole it was the passing and movement of the home side that allowed them to wrest control of the contest.

And a lovely move won them the day after John Hallworth had saved brilliantly from his own defender, Jorn Schwinkendorf, and Branch had rippled the side netting from Burnley's nearest efforts yet to a second goal.

Steve Davis started the decisive attack before Mullin helped the ball into the path of Little.

The winger then teased the life out of Andy Legg before doing the same to Hallworth with a magical cross that just eluded the Cardiff keeper but dropped perfectly for Johnrose to stroke the ball home.

More goals would have been fitting but that was enough and left Legg contemplating a dramatic reversal in fortunes.

His shot deflected home by Thomas had given Cardiff a deserved lead. But it was largely downhill from there and the header he missed three minutes into the second half proved to be the visitors' final chance.

Burnley, desperate not to fall flat on their faces after their FA Cup win at Derby, had threatened to do just that early on once Hallworth had made a fine save from Davis's header.

But the tactical re-shuffled changed the balance. And after Payton had been denied a possible penalty from one of several rustic challenges on the Clarets' front two, Armstrong equalised with his first goal for the club at Turf Moor and first since scoring on his Burnley debut last August.

Profiting from Davis's knock-down from a Paul Cook corner, Armstrong chested the ball down and turned neatly to drill a shot past a posse of bodies on the goalline.

With Burnley now in the ascendency, Davis donned the mantle of right winger and delivered the kind of cross Little would have been proud of.

Sadly for the purists, Mullin's diving header flashed just wide when a glorious goal beckoned.

And, when Hallworth superbly denied Payton and Schwinkendorf cleared the follow-up from Mellon off the line, Burnley knew they might have to produce something special to carve out a winner.

Thanks to Little they managed it. And if the sceptics who doubted Burnley's flair haven't been converted by now, they never will be.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.